Thanks Macropod, you are being a truly great help here - appreciated. Its an
area in which i am outside my knowledge base. My comments below assume that
i have understood your reply, which may not be the case.
However, still have some issues.
I had already created a dummy workbook so that my spreadsheet would open
without failing to find the linked workbook. It opens OK. Its just a pain
that I have to have that dummy workbook continually available. So, if I've
understood your 1st option, that won't work since when I tried the delete of
the defined name earlier it gave the "name is invalid" message. That was even
though the linked workbook was available (ie the dummy).
The 2nd option is problematic also -- the reference for the defined name is
to #REf in the dummy workbook. And it won't let me update that to something
else.
Re SYLK - that did allow me to find the reference line in notepad and delete
it, but it only saves one worksheet I have a multi sheet workbook. (Also lost
all the formatting but that could be recreated easily enough).
I tried saving two different worksheets to sylk -- only the current
worksheet data gets saved -- but the phantom link was listed on both of the 2
sylk's that I saved.
Seems like I have problems whichever way I go. Maybe best to just let it go
and keep the dummy workbook always available. But that's irritating.
Or I could revcreate the whole thing when I get time ho ho.
By the way, the defined name that has the link starts with G but the rest of
the 7 characters or so are not ones that are reproducible on a keyboard. I
think that's why I'm getting the "name is invalid" message.
Its getting late here now so I'm off for the night. Thanks again for the
replies.

--
regards
....barglen


"macropod" wrote:

Hi barglen,

You might try creating a temporary workbook with the link's name (not
including any cell references), then either:
.. delete the defined name and destroy the link;
.. use Edit|Links to change the source workbook to any other workbook. It
doesn't matter which, since the next step will be to delete the defined name
and destroy the link; or
.. open the temporary workbook and cut & paste the referenced cell into the
'problem' workbook (this kills the external link), then delete the defined
name
after which you can delete the temporary workbook.

Hopefully, at least one of these will work.

As a last resort, you could try saving the workbook in SYLK format, using a
text editor to find and delete the offending reference, then re-opening in
Excel.

Cheers

--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


"barglen" wrote in message
...
| Thanks Macropod,
| I didn't know about that feature - yes I can see the weird name in "defined
| names". And it refrers to the spreadsheet thta is being asked for on open.
| But when I try to delete the defined name I get the message - "that name is
| not valid".
| I tried modifying it by blanking out the reference but still get "name not
| valid" when I try to save it.
| Any further advice? Appreciate the help so far.
| regards
| ...barglen
|
|
| "macropod" wrote:
|
| Hi barglen,
|
| If the name isn't in any worksheet cells, it could nevertheless be in a
| defined named. Check in Insert|Name for the offending reference in the
defined
| names.
|
| Cheers
|
| --
| macropod
| [MVP - Microsoft Word]
|
|
| "barglen" wrote in message
| ...
| | I have created a new spreadsheet in Excel 2000 which involved some
copying
| | and pasting from a previous spreadsheet. There are multiple worksheets
in
| the
| | xls. Its fairly complex so don't want to recreate the whole thing again.
| | At one point the copy of a worksheet failed (crash with error report
| request).
| | The new spreadsheet seems to be OK, except on opening it is asking for
the
| | password for a link to another spreadsheet. There is no link to that
| | spreadsheet anywhere in the new spreadsheet. I've searched the entire
| | spreadsheet and there is no genuine link.
| | So I used the Findlink add-in and it found a link to the spreadsheet.
But it
| | names the source of the link as a worksheet which doesn't exist - the
source
| | worksheet has a name something like G!11Ps. There is no worksheet of
that
| | name in the new spreadsheet. When Findlink is asked to remove the link
it
| | gives an error and doesn't remove it.
| | It seems there is a phantom worksheet in the new spreadsheet -- and the
| | phantom has the link that is coming up on open.
| | How can I find and get rid of the phantom worksheet ? Any ideas?
| |
| | --
| | regards
| | ...barglen
|
|
|